Exploring the Source
 It’s now been well over a year since Half Life 2 stormed the gaming world, raising the bar for gaming interaction, presentation and storytelling, as well as development time and Hollywood-style controversy.
The tale of Gordon Freeman’s adventures after the Black Mesa incident offers a visceral new take on first-person shooters, with its fully integrated physics engine, crisp DX9-based graphics, and brilliant action sequences. Like all good things, however, it comes to an all too abrupt ending, and one that leaves a mind-bogging amount of room for expansion, future adventures, and modifications too.
Thanks to the magic that is Steam and its software development kit, however, players can take matters into their own hands, and use the very tools that crafted the game to produce their own adventures, which don’t even have to be limited to the world of Half Life: if it involves 3D graphics, and the designer’s imagination can take you there, then it most likely can be made to work as a Half Life 2 modification.
The result of such bountiful gaming goodness is a thriving community of near professional tinkerers that is taking the Source engine in just about any direction conceivable, and a couple that really should not be conceived: from WWII-based shooters to fantasy worlds with telekinetic witches, there is a project out there to suit just about every gaming preference, extending the game’s value exponentially, with extra episodes to play in the Half Life 2 universe, or new, fantastic voyages to virgin gaming lands. Let’s jump into the rabbit hole, and see what else we can take our crowbars to.
Page 01: Exploring the Source
Page 02: A Little History
Page 03: Why Care?
Page 04: Episodes - Minerva
Page 05: Episodes - Ravenholm
Page 06: Episodes - Combine Destiny
Page 07: Modifications – HL2 CTF
Page 08: Modifications – HL2: Assault
Page 09: Modifications – Synergy
Page 10: Total Conversions - Dystopia
Page 11: Total Conversions – Eclipse
Page 12: Total Conversions: Halloween Pumpkin Night
Page 13: Upcoming 1
Page 14: Upcoming 2
Page 15: In Short
Page 16: Modding the Servers
Page 17: Me Too!
Page 18: Take it Online
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